Tips for Baby Photos You'll Love to Scrapbook

by Kim Jackson

As a scrapbooker, you rely on photos to step in where words fail to convey your emotions about your baby—your photos are the heart of the layouts you make about him or her. But you don't need to know all the technical ins and outs of your camera in order to take the shots that will bring your love for your baby to life on your scrapbook pages.Document Trust and Love Using Simple Photos

A simple shot can become something extraordinary when the people you love are in the frame. Take, for instance, Susan Weinroth's photo. Even if your baby is "Mr. Serious," have his father hold him and capture the trust and the bond between the two of them. No matter your baby's expression, you'll have a priceless photo to scrapbook an everyday moment in his life.

Capture His Smiling Face with a Photo Shoot

Set up a homegrown studio comprised of a beanbag draped with a soft blanket in order to get just the right angle to photograph your baby. Because you won't have to hold him, you can devote your efforts to getting your baby to display his sunny personality for your layout.

Compare and Contrast Using Camera Settings

Create an artistic photo to depict exactly how tiny your baby is and to show what he can be when he grows up: draw attention to the difference in size between him and a family member using a low aperture to blur out everything but the feature you're comparing.

You don't need to be a professional photographer to capture beautifully lit photos of your baby or toddler. Take the photos yourself by using the natural light in your home and placing your subject next to a window in indirect light. If you find that the light is too bright, schedule your shoot for a different time during the day. Susan also used this principle when she set up her home studio!

Emphasize the tenderness between siblings by softening the bright colors in your photos using photo filters. Traditionally, photo filters were made to sit over the lens of a camera. Today, you can acheive the same effect after you take your photos by using Adobe Photoshop Elements. It's easy!

1. Create a New Adjustment Layer and adjust your Brightness and Contrast using the sliders (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast>. Hint: Be generous as you adjust the brightness for this effect; you want your photo to appear bright because step 2 will darken your photo a bit. 2. Create a new Layer. Then, in the Layers Palette, click on the Blending Mode drop down arrow and select Multiply. 3. In the Toolbar, click on the front Set Foreground Color swatch and select a light-yellow color. Click on the Paint Bucket tool, and then click on the photo. 4. In the Layers Palette, click on the arrow in the Opacity bar and slide the drop-down slider to the left as needed to decrease the yellow color until you acheive your desired effect.